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Home , Amtrak California, Byers Canyon, California Zephyr, De Beque Canyon, Moffat Tunnel, Prospector (train)

®

CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR® ROUTE GUIDE JOURNEY

THE

CHICAGO • • •

We hope you enjoy reading this guide and learning about points of interest along our route. It is written starting from the eastern terminus of the in and proceeds to points west, ending in San Francisco. If you boarded in San ENJOY Francisco, just read the guide in reverse, remembering to look in the opposite direction referenced. ® STATIONS are shown in all capital letters, as opposed to upper and lower case for towns and geographical areas through which the train travels but does not stop. The Amtrak® System Timetable or the Zephyr® timetable folder should be consulted for actual station times. While all service presented in this guide was accurate at the time of publication, routes and services are subject to change. Please contact Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL, visit Amtrak.com, or call your travel agent for the most current information. Between Chicago and the great cities of the west lie narrow , towering peaks and breathtakingly beautiful mountain wilderness areas as you cross two great mountain ranges, the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas. Traveling across this great swath of American West was a challenging journey until 1869 when the first transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, . Then, thousands of pioneers were able to easily go west in search of their fortunes, many to San Francisco after the discovery of gold nearby. Modern-day travelers know that same trip as one of the most beautiful train journeys in North America – and the most comfortable way to travel between these two great cities. Blowing away the alternatives is what Zephyrus, ancient Greek god of the west wind, and his namesake, the , do best. So sit back and be “blown away” by the otherwise unattainable views of the spectacular scenery and changing vistas along the route. [Amtrak’s California Zephyr carries the same name as the original “most talked about train in America” that went into service on March 20, 1949, between Chicago and Oakland over much of the same route as the train you are riding today. The original California Zephyr, operated jointly by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and , featured five “vista dome” cars and four sleeping cars. Today, Amtrak uses modern double-decker cars that give nearly everybody on the train a bird’s-eye view of the spectacular scenery on the route.] WELCOME ABOARD

The California Zephyr takes you from the Midwest’s Windy City across the American heartland through Denver, over the of the Rockies, through the Continental Divide, Glenwood , the Utah Desert and the High Sierras to the City by the Bay. On board, you will experience the comfort and relaxation of train travel while witnessing some of the very best American cultural and geographic icons. We are happy to have you aboard today and want to ensure your trip is everything you want it to be. If there is anything that can be done to make your trip more enjoyable, please do not hesitate to ask any Amtrak employee. THE TRAIN STAFF The staff of the California Zephyr is here to make your trip a special and enjoyable experience. The Conductor is responsible for the entire On-Board Services staff including ticket collection, passenger safety and the safe operation of the train. The Lead Service Attendant is responsible for the operation of the Dining car and Dining car staff. The Lounge Car Attendant is responsible for the operation of the Lounge/ Café car. The Attendant is responsible for providing all service for passengers ticketed in Sleeping car accommodations, including room preparation, luggage service and any assistance necessary to ensure a comfortable journey. He or she can also assist with meal reservations or arrange for your meal to be served in the privacy and comfort of your accommodation. The Coach Attendant is responsible for providing service for passengers ticketed in Coach. This includes seat assignment, luggage assistance, and assistance to ensure a comfortable journey. ACCOMMODATIONS Sleeping car accommodations provide a range of private rooms with amenities for day and night use. From Superliner Roomettes to Superliner Bedrooms featuring a private lavatory and shower, Sleeping car accommodations will suit any need and can be described in more detail by any member of the crew. Please ask to speak to the Conductor regarding the availability of rooms. Sleeping car passengers can enjoy the Amtrak Metropolitan LoungeSM available in Chicago. Coach seating provides a wide reclining seat with leg rest, folding tray table and overhead light. The Dining car features full-service hot meals prepared by Amtrak chefs. Here you will also have the chance to meet your fellow passengers for conversation and food while the scenery glides by your window. Sleeping car accommodation charges include meals in the Dining car while passengers ticketed in Coach may purchase Dining car meals at reasonable prices. The Sightseer Lounge/Café is the perfect car for viewing the spectacular scenery along the California Zephyr. Large panoramic windows provide the perfect atmosphere for sightseeing and making new friends. The Café is located on the lower level of this car offering sandwiches, snacks and beverages. On-board guides from the California State Railroad Museum provide historical and sightseeing commentary between Reno and Sacramento seasonally. HOST RAILROADS are the freight and commuter railroads that Amtrak contracts with to operate Amtrak passenger . The California Zephyr is hosted by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) between Chicago and Denver, and the Union Pacific between Denver and Emeryville, CA.

Information contained in this route guide as well as described amenities and features are subject to change without notice. While gratuities are not required for services provided, it is an appreciated way to convey to an employee that he or she has made your trip more enjoyable.

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CHICAGO (0 mi.) Vibrant and energetic, Chicago is the commercial, PRINCETON (104 mi.) was settled in the 1830s by families from industrial and cultural core of the Midwest and has always been a New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Legend has it that when major national transportation hub. At Union Station, eight Amtrak® the three town trustees couldn’t agree on a name, each put a name in long-distance routes and seven regional corridors connect passengers to the hat and Princeton was selected. Owen Lovejoy was an outspoken and from cities and towns across the country. In the heart of America, abolitionist in the mid-1800s, and his home on the east side of town Chicago is a leading distribution center for manufactured goods flowing became a major stop on the Underground Railroad for freed slaves on in all directions. Its importance as a commercial center is underscored their way to Canada. Today the home is open as a museum and is a by the Merchandise Mart, the world’s largest commercial office building National Historic Landmark. with over 4 million square feet of floor space. Kewanee (131 mi.) is a small industrial town along the Spoon River. It The many regional food specialties (in addition to Chicago Deep Dish was best known for the manufacturing of steam boilers. The Kewanee Pizza!) reflect the city’s ethnic and working class roots. Chicago’s spirit Boiler Corporation closed down in 2002. One thing still going strong is is also exemplified in its unique architecture; it is here that the word the annual Hog Days Festival that has been held Labor Day weekend “skyscraper” originated with the first one built in 1885. The arts and every year since 1954 following an earlier resolution by the sciences are alive with an abundance of world-renowned theaters and Legislature declaring Kewanee and Henry County the “Hog Capital of museums. And Chicago is clearly a sports town with baseball’s Cubs the World.” The Amtrak station here is served by the Illinois Zephyr® and White Sox, hockey’s 2013 Stanley Cup Blackhawks, and Carl Sandburg® trains. basketball’s Bulls, and football’s Chicago Bears (known around here as Galva (139 mi.) was settled by a mix of settlers from Vermont, the “Da Bears”). The city is home to historic Wrigley Field, one of baseball’s Isle of Man, and colonists in nearby Bishop Hill who had arrived from oldest parks, and one of the tallest buildings in the U.S., the Willis Tower Sweden and came to the aid of the new settlers. The name Galva (formerly the Sears Tower) is next to Union Station. is from the Swedish port of Gefle, from which many of the Swedish Leaving , the South Branch of the Chicago River colonists had sailed. is on the left. In the late 1890s the flow of the river was changed to go GALESBURG (162 mi.) has always been an important railroad town from Lake Michigan toward the in order to improve served by both the Burlington and Santa Fe Railroads (now both part the water quality in the Lake, rather than the other way around, of the BNSF). It celebrates this heritage with the permanent display through construction of a series of locks and sluice gates. This was of a Burlington 4-6-4 Hudson steam engine that can be seen on the considered to be a major engineering triumph of its time, although not right as we enter the station, its annual Railroad Days Festival in without controversy from Mississippi River communities. June, its Galesburg Railroad Museum, and as host city of the National NAPERVILLE (28 mi.) serves Chicago’s western suburbs. Founded in Railroad Hall of Fame that is being developed. It’s not all railroads in 1831, this is an affluent, family-oriented community, with a restored Galesburg, however. It was also the home of writer and historian Carl historic village and modern suburban homes, reflecting both the city’s Sandburg and the site of the fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858 at past and present. Today, Naperville is known for its high-tech companies Knox College, which we pass on the right shortly after leaving the and highly regarded school system. The nearly two mile Riverwalk along station. George Ferris, inventor of the ferris wheel, was born here. And the DuPage River features walking paths, fountains, meeting and event Galesburg annually hosts the Black Earth Film Festival which attracts places, outdoor sculpture and recreational facilities. entries from around the world, a kite festival, the Great Cardboard Boat Regatta and the Annual Rubber Duck Race! According to legend, the Aurora (38 mi.), west of Naperville, is the second largest city in Marx Brothers received their nicknames here during a poker game in Illinois, and was the birthplace of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 1914. Railroad, predecessor to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe over which the California Zephyr® runs between Chicago and Denver. Aurora has Monmouth (179 mi.) is another town which supposedly had its name been dubbed the “City of Lights” after being one of the first cities in drawn from a hat--except that the name drawn, Kosciusko, was too the nation to adopt all-electric street lighting in 1881. We cross the Fox hard to spell so the second drawing selected Monmouth. Monmouth River which bisects Aurora into three regions: The West Side, The East is the home of Monmouth College and birthplace of western hero Side, and The Far East Side/Fox Valley. Marshall Wyatt Earp.

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Illinois/ State Line – The Mississippi River basins. Southwestern Community College and Buena Vista University are located here, and Creston is the county seat of Union County. The The Mississippi River, the second longest in the country at 2,320 miles, annual Creston/Southwest Iowa Hot Air Balloon Race is held here forms the border here, as well as for several of the other eight states during September. that it flows through. Note the marshy bottomlands beneath the bridge. Stanton (435 mi.) first settled by Swedish immigrants, is best known BURLINGTON (205 mi.) Following the Mississippi River as part for its two water towers, one painted and shaped like a giant coffee of his expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase, Zebulon Pike in pot and the other like a giant coffee cup. These unique water towers, 1805 landed at the bluffs below town and constructed a fort. The first which are off to the right as we pass through town, pay homage to American to purchase a lot, John Gray, bought the right to choose hometown actress Virginia Christine, better known to TV viewers as the town name and named it for his hometown in Vermont. Prior to “Mrs. Olson” in the classic Folgers coffee commercials. 1868 passengers crossed the Mississippi by ferry here, or in the winter walked across the ice. Reflect on that as you ride in Superliner® comfort Council Bluffs (491 mi.), originally known as Kanesville, was today across the river on the California Zephyr. transformed by the California Gold Rush and renamed Council Bluffs, remaining a major outfitting point on the for the MOUNT PLEASANT (233 mi.) is home to Iowa Wesleyan College Emigrant Trail, with a lively steamboat trade. President Lincoln chose which can be seen one block away on the right as we leave the station. Council Bluffs as the eastern location of the transcontinental railroad in The college has had a couple of out-of-this world graduates--namely 1862. The town has one of only three remaining examples of a rotary James Van Allen who discovered the earth’s radiation belts that bear jail, with pie-shaped cells on a turntable. It remained in operation until his name and astronaut Peggy Whitson, who spent over a year in space 1969, after the rotary function was disabled nine years earlier. Today, on two missions to the International Space Station and is the only Casino Row is located on and near the river. In 1972, Council Bluffs woman to command the space station. The Midwest Old Threshers native Ron “The Bluffs Butcher” Stander fought Joe Frazier for the has several museums in town featuring tractors, trains, farm homes heavyweight title in the Omaha Civic Auditorium, losing on cuts in the and even a carousel to celebrate the way it used to be in the Midwest fourth round. It was the most talked about sporting event ever to occur agriculture belt. They hold a major festival each year on Labor Day in this city. weekend to pay tribute to the Midwest’s agricultural heritage. OTTUMWA (279 mi.) is best known to most Americans as the home Iowa/ State Line – Missouri River of fictional character “Radar O’Reilly” from the TV show M*A*S*H. Missouri River is the state line between Iowa and Nebraska. Lewis Five sitting Presidents have visited Ottumwa, generally while and Clark set out in 1804 to explore the river, obtained as part of the campaigning. The Des Moines River flows through the center of the city Louisiana Purchase. They hoped to find that the Missouri would be the and will be on the left side of the train until we cross it after leaving “Northwest Passage” to the Pacific. It wasn’t, but at 2,341 miles in the station. length, it drains about one-sixth of the North American continent – and OSCEOLA (359 mi.) is the nearest Amtrak station to Iowa’s capital, is slightly longer than the Mississippi River that it flows in to north of Des Moines, 50 miles to the north. Osceola was named to honor St. Louis. The river is nicknamed “Big Muddy” for its high silt content. a Seminole from Florida who in the 1830s was captured and OMAHA (500 mi.) has always been a major transportation center imprisoned after accepting an invitation to meet for negotiations with earning it the nickname “Gateway to the West.” The eastern portion the U.S. government on the removal of his tribe from Florida. The chief of the first transcontinental railroad headed west from here in the received support from many people around the country, although it 1850s, and this town has been home to the didn’t keep him from dying in prison. Watch for a 15 foot high carved since the company began. Every May, Omaha becomes “Woodstock for wooden bust of the chief on the left where our train begins to parallel Capitalists” as about 40,000 people flock to this city to hear one of the the highway shortly after leaving Osceola. richest men in the world, Warren Buffet, the “Oracle of Omaha,” at the CRESTON (392 mi.) was established nearly 150 years ago by the annual meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway Corporation. Then for nearly Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and got its name because it two weeks in June the town is taken over by NCAA baseball as it hosts sits at the crest of the split between the Mississippi and Missouri River the College World Series. Besides business, Omaha also has been the

California Zephyr Route Guide 4 The Rockies

launching pad for many actors who were either born or grew up here, including Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, Nick Nolte and Henry Fonda. Offutt Air Force Base (504 mi.) to our left was once home to the Glenn L. Martin aircraft plant where the propeller driven B-29s used to drop the atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II were built. From 1961- 1990 it was the site of the country’s 24-hour airborne command center called Operation Looking Glass. On September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush conducted one of the first major strategy sessions in the base bunker after the Twin Tower attacks. We cross the Platte River (507 mi.) which is over 300 miles long and has served as part of the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails that carried emigrants west in the mid-1800s. The Platte River road was also the route of the Pony Express, the Union Pacific portion of the first transcontinental railroad and cross-country Interstate Route 80. LINCOLN (555 mi.) became capital of Nebraska upon its admission to the Union in 1867. The golden-domed state capitol building dominates the skyline on the left side as the train curves through town. The Nebraska State government is unique as it is the only “unicameral” legislature (a single chamber rather than two as in the other states). Besides the state government and a mix of service industries, the University of Nebraska is the other large contributor to the local economy. The Cornhuskers play at 91,000-seat Memorial Stadium, visible on the left before arriving at the station. HASTINGS (652 mi.) Even though the California Zephyr stops in the middle of the night it might be appropriate to raise a glass in honor of the drink invented here by Edwin Perkins in 1927--Kool-Aid! Kool-Aid Days are celebrated here the second week of each August. HOLDREGE (706 mi.) is named for George Holdrege who was the general manager of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad when the first trains reached town in 1883. MCCOOK (783 mi.) Another town created with the arrival of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. It was the home of George W. Norris who served in both the House and U.S. Senate for a total of 40 years, and is known as the “Father of the Rural Electrification Administration” that brought electricity to rural parts of the U.S.

Nebraska/ State Line (864 mi.) The state line is the time zone boundary between Central and Mountain Time. Set your watch back one hour going west and ahead one hour going east. FORT MORGAN (960 mi.) Famous Big Band Era musician Glen Miller lived here as a teenager and honed his musical skills in the high school band before beginning a career that revolutionized popular music in the 1940s. Commerce City (1033 mi.) Prior to entering this northeast Denver suburb, the Zephyr passes the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge on the left. The Arsenal was where World War II chemical weapons were manufactured, but beginning in the early 1980s an environmental cleanup converted the area into a 15,000-acre refuge for, among other species, the bald eagle--our national symbol. After passing the oil refinery on both sides of the tracks, we’ll see the cattle pens on the right remaining from when cattle were shipped by rail to market. DENVER (1038 mi.) is also known as the Mile-High City because its official elevation, measured on the steps of the state capitol building, is 5,280 feet above sea level. Denver was first settled because gold was discovered nearby. There didn’t prove to be much of the yellow metal, so the prospectors soon left, but eventually they returned and mined

California Zephyr Route Guide 5 Pine Cliff (1074 mi.) South Boulder Creek is just off to our left as we pass through here. Moffat --East Portal (1088 mi.) carries the California Zephyr for 6.2 miles through the Rockies and across the Continental Divide. When the tunnel was opened in 1928 after four years of construction, it cut the distance between Denver and the Pacific Coast by 176 miles, eliminating a series of switchback loops and steep grades that previously carried the railroad through . --West Portal (1095 mi.) The Winter Park Ski Resort, built as part of Denver’s mountain parks system, comes right up alongside the railroad at the west portal of the Moffat Tunnel. FRASER-WINTER PARK (1100 mi.) station is located in Fraser and also serves the nearby Winter Park Ski Resort. Fraser and International Falls, Minnesota have sparred over the years over who can claim the nickname “Icebox of America.” Regardless, Fraser does not have a frost-free season, thus can claim to be the town with the shortest growing season. However, winter sports aficionados could care least--in addition to the nearby ski resort, the area also has abundant cross- country skiing opportunities. Fraser Canyon (1103 mi.) We follow the through this remote canyon. Some of the best fishing for wild rainbows, browns and cutthroats is in the canyon downstream from Tabernash. GRANBY (1113 mi.) is the gateway city to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Leaving Granby we begin paralleling the for the next 235 miles, off the left side of the train. Many call the trip along the river the most scenic stretch of in America that can be seen from a scheduled passenger train. (1115 mi.) on the upper Colorado River has no roads and is accessible only by rail or kayak. The walls ascend some 1,000 feet on each side over the river, and the Class V whitewater is the wildest commercially available rafting in the state -- some say the entire country. Dotsero (1204 mi.) is the approximate midpoint of the train’s journey. , the largest of several on the upper Colorado River, begins a few miles beyond Dotsero. The spectacular high cliffs of this the long term “commercial gold” as Denver became a thriving business 12.5-mile gorge are dotted with aspen and evergreen trees. In 1906, center. Located midway between the large cities of the Midwest and the canyon served as the route of the Taylor State Road, the first gravel West Coast, Denver has become a major transportation and distribution path for automobiles through the Colorado Rockies. center, and also has more federal workers than any area other than , DC. The city has eight professional sports teams, and GLENWOOD SPRINGS (1223 mi.) at the confluence of the Roaring Coors Field, home of baseball’s Colorado Rockies, is adjacent to the Fork and Colorado Rivers, has six world-class ski resorts within a train station. This is a refueling and service stop for our train. When we 60-mile radius, quite a few noted mountain bike trails, whitewater leave we begin the 300-mile stretch that makes passengers “oooh and rafting, numerous backpacking trails and Glenwood Caverns, a ahhhh” and made the California Zephyr famous thanks to its signature geological marvel. Doc Holliday, the Wild West legend of the Gunfight passage over the Rockies and along the Colorado River. at the O.K. Corral, spent the final months of his life here. Rocky (1051 mi.) We leave the Denver suburbs at Arvada and here we New Castle (1235 mi.) was founded in 1888 and like its namesake begin the climb up the Front Range of the Rockies toward the Moffat town in England had an economy based on mining. However, Tunnel. We’ll pass through 31 between Denver and Winter Park. high levels of methane gas resulted in several mine explosions that eventually led to the end of active mining after the 1918 explosion. Clay (1054 mi.) Winds in the mountains here can be so strong that The underground explosions have left a fire that still smolders and is hopper cars are welded to the rails on an adjacent track to the right of marked by the annual Burning Mountain Festival early in September. our train and sit there filled with sand to act as a windbreak. De Beque (1279 mi.) is a town where wild horses were rounded up and Plainview (1057 mi.) offers a view of Denver and the Great Plains sold. It pays tribute to that heritage every August with its Wild Horse beyond that is anything but plain. The view is even more spectacular at Days’ celebration. Today it is one of only three Certified Wild Horse night. Sanctuary Cities in the , and the town undertakes projects South Boulder Canyon (1069 mi.) is home to the Roosevelt National to protect the remaining wild horses and burros. Here we begin a Forest, re-named in 1932 to honor former President Theodore Roosevelt, 20-mile trip through the winding , emerging in the and Gross Reservoir, which supplies Denver with water. town of Palisade (1300 mi.).

California Zephyr Route Guide 6 GRAND JUNCTION (1311 mi.) is located where the Gunnison and few rooftops, can be seen on the left side of the train after emerging Colorado Rivers join. Prior to 1921, this part of the Colorado River was from the tunnel which was part of the relocation of the railroad known as the Grand River--thus Grand Junction. The city is surrounded following the disaster. The incident was the first ever federal disaster by the mountains of the Colorado National Monument. Powderhorn area declared in the state of Utah. Ski Resort sits on the east side of the , the blue mountain PROVO (1563 mi.), the third largest city in Utah, hosts Brigham to the east, which is one of the world’s largest flat top mountains. The Young University and the largest missionary training center for the nearby Country Jam Ranch is a permanent music festival site that hosts Mormon Church. The “Y Mountain” towers over the Country Jam that draws thousands of country music fans to the area city; the letter was built to commemorate the university. Provo is home each year. to software company Novell, Inc., which has helped make technology Mack (1330 mi.) After the California Zephyr passes through the last and software an important industry in the Utah Valley area. Provo is town in Colorado, it turns southward, passes under I-70 and makes also home to the Osmond family of entertainers. Stephen Covey, the its way back toward the Colorado River and Ruby Canyon, a popular famous author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, also resides destination for rafting, which takes its name from the red sandstone in Provo. Just outside of Provo is the entrance to the Uinta and Manti- cliffs lining the Canyon walls. Erosion via wind and water has hewn La Sal National Forests. smooth textures and fascinating shapes in the striking red stone over SALT LAKE CITY (1608 mi.) is the world headquarters of the eons of time. The canyon runs for 25 miles through Colorado and Utah. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, founded in 1847 by a Colorado/Utah State Line group of Mormon pioneers led by Brigham Young. Temple Square in A sign marking the state line was painted by railroaders on the canyon the heart of downtown houses the six-towered Mormon Temple. The wall on the right. church’s world renowned genealogical research facility brings people from all over the world researching their family tree. Mining and About five miles after passing through Ruby Canyon we get our final the first transcontinental railroad brought initial economic growth. glimpse of the Colorado River on the left. Today’s economy is primarily service oriented around government, Thompson Springs (1390 mi.) In 1985 Thompson went back to the transportation, technology, utilities and professional and business future and re-adopted the town’s original name, Thompson Springs. The services. In recent years the area has developed both a light rail system area south of town is rich in uranium deposits. (TRAX) for the immediate Salt Lake City area, and a system (Front Runner) that links the city to Ogden on the north and GREEN RIVER (1417 mi.) sits at 4,078 ft. elevation, the lowest Provo on the south. The valley in which the city lies is considered one point between Salt Lake City and Denver. It is a popular spot for of the safest and most attractive natural settings in North America. “freeride” mountain biking. On the left are Marvine and Thousand Lake Mountains. Remain on the alert for herds of the apocryphal jackalope, Utah/ State Line hare-like antlered creatures said to appear without warning in these Change your watch from Mountain to Pacific Time: one hour back if parts. westbound, one hour ahead if eastbound. Price (1481 mi.) may have a population of only 8,400, but it’s the ELKO (1871 mi.) was founded in 1869 as a town along the just largest town since leaving Grand Junction. It is home to the Utah State completed transcontinental railroad. Once dubbed “the last real cow University-College of Eastern Utah and a large prehistoric museum. The town in the American West,” the city still is a ranching center with Book Cliffs on the right extend back into Colorado and offer evidence western roots, but now also relies on tourism since the opening of the that everything to the south of here was once under water. Red Lion Casino. The town hosts the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering HELPER (1488 mi.) The town name comes from the railroading festival each January and the National Basque Festival every July. A activity that took place here for years--adding “helper” engines to stuffed 10-foot tall polar bear graces the Commercial Casino. westbound freight trains so they can get up the Wasatch Plateau WINNEMUCCA (2013 mi.) You know you’re in a western town when to Soldier Summit. Mining has always been the other key economic October brings the National Senior Pro Rodeo Finals, the Ranch Hand activity here, and there is said to be enough local coal to meet the Rodeo Weekend is held in February, the Winnemucca Mule show in country’s needs for almost three centuries. It’s not surprising then that June, and barrel races in August. And if western events are not what the city hosts the Western Mining and Railroad Museum. you’re looking for, try the Run-A-Mucca Motorcycle Rally in May. Castle Gate (1492 mi.) is a former mining town dismantled in 1974. Indeed, the town’s motto may hit the nail on the head: “Winnemucca, Its rock formation seems to open like a giant castle gate as the train NV. There’s more than meets the eye.” approaches and closes as it leaves. Butch Cassidy is said to have held Lovelock (2086 mi.) The area around this town was considered the up the Pleasant Valley Coal Company here for $7,000 in gold in 1897. most difficult of the entire journey by the Pony Express riders and From here to Soldier Summit the California Zephyr will follow the Price by those who traveled west by covered wagon in the days before River up the Wasatch Range. the transcontinental railroad. The which meanders Soldier Summit (1513 mi.) at 7,000 feet elevation is named for the civil across the desert between the Trinity Mountains on the right and the war soldiers buried here in 1860. This area is a favorite train watching Humboldt Range on the left, would disappear into the sand leaving spot for railfans, so don’t be surprised if you see them with cameras water that was full of minerals and barely drinkable. Lovelock’s ready to photograph the California Zephyr as we reach the top of the economy today is largely agricultural, producing bananas and alfalfa. Wasatch Plateau. After we pass the summit, we’ll start heading down Fernley (2154 mi.) The first sign that you’ve left the open spaces of thru Spanish Fork Canyon and negotiate a series of switchbacks called the west and are nearing the Reno/Sparks metro area is this suburb the Gilluly Loops. of new homes on the left. This town is best known as the home of a Thistle (1542 mi.) is a recent ghost town, caused by a 1983 mudslide 750,000 square foot distribution center for Amazon.com. From here that moved part of a mountain, blocked two creeks and formed an the California Zephyr begins following the . earthen dam. Water from the creeks backed up and flooded the town. The landslide also closed the railroad for months. Thistle’s remains, a

California Zephyr Route Guide 7 Sparks (2199 mi.) is, for all practical purposes, a twin city with Reno. the Southern Pacific’s City of San Francisco streamliner, with 226 The Southern Pacific built a switching yard here in 1904 which passengers aboard, got stuck for three days in a raging blizzard in spurred population growth. A number of casinos also contributed to 1952. Sparks’ growth and then in the 1970s favorable taxation resulted Emigrant Gap (2273 mi.) As we cross , look for a gap in in an expansion of warehousing and distribution industry. The most the ridge on the California Trail as it crosses the , west of significant Sparks casino, the Nugget, is on the right side. . The cliffs here are so steep that 1840’s pioneers crossing RENO (2202 mi.) “The Biggest Little City in the World” began as a to California were said to have lowered their wagons on ropes in order modest gold mining service settlement which grew after the discovery to continue. of silver in 1859. Tailor Jacob Davis came to Reno in 1868 and began Canyon (2279 mi.) on the left side of the train is the to use rivets to secure the pockets of his men’s trousers. Worried that valley of the North Folk of the American River, located 1,500 to 2,000 the idea would be copied, he contacted Levi Strauss to apply and pay feet below track level. for a patent, which was granted in 1873. As mining waned in the 1900s, Nevada legalized casino gambling in 1931 and passed liberal Cape Horn (2298 mi.) is a rocky bluff on the left side of the train some divorce laws, both boons for Reno. An antique car collection and major 1,500 feet above the American River. The slope from here down to entertainers entice gamblers to Reno today, along with special events Colfax is the steepest on the Zephyr’s route. In this direction we’re all year. going the easy way--downhill as we complete our crossing of the Sierras. Verdi (2213 mi.) The site of the first train robbery in the West in 1870. There is now a hydroelectric generator powered by a water flume – a COLFAX (2301 mi.) was named for Schuyler Colfax, seventeenth Vice wooden trough that collects water at four sites in the mountains. President of the United States under the Ulysses S. Grant administration between 1869 and 1873. A statue at the station showing a prospector Nevada/California State Line (2217 mi.) panning for gold during the Gold Rush days of the 1850s is featured The state line is indicated by a small marker on your right. immediately off Main Street, a charming section of town that can be Floriston (2223 mi.) Here rainbow trout, brook trout and German seen on the right. browns travel up and down the Truckee River to and from Verdi by Auburn (2319 mi.) This is the heart of “Gold Rush” country. Just south means of a fish ladder. of town is Sutter’s Mill, where gold was discovered setting off an influx Boca (2229 mi.) in its heyday produced lumber, but the town was of fortune seeking “49ers” (not the football variety) in the mid-1800s. dismantled in the 1920s after the sawmill closed. All that remains are Claude Chana, a young Frenchman who had come by wagon train to a bridge and a dam on the right. The oddly shaped rock formations California, is said to have panned for gold and made his discovery resembling castle spires that you now see were developed through on May 16, 1848, in what became known as the Auburn Ravine. A erosion by wind and water and are known as “Hoodoo Pillars.” 45-ton statue commemorating the event stands downtown. (James Wilson Marshall’s discovery five months earlier on the American River TRUCKEE (2237 mi.) was named after a Paiute chief, Trukizo, father had set the stage for the gold rush. Forced off of his own land, he of Chief Winnemucca. The first settlers encountered his tribe with the sadly never profited from his discovery.) Several museums including friendly chief yelling “Tro-kay” at them, the Paiute word for “hello.” the Gold County Museum, Bernhard Museum and the Placer County Note the renovated former Bank of America on the left side of the train, (Courthouse) Museum will tell you everything you ever wanted to know now “The Bar of America,” a popular downtown restaurant. about the Gold Rush, except where to find your own gold! The Amtrak ® Stanford Flats (2243 mi.) We now cross back and forth across a series Auburn station is the easternmost terminus for the of ascending plateaus as we begin the climb over Donner Pass to the trains. peak of the Sierras. Below is a panoramic view of the Truckee Basin. ROSEVILLE (2336 mi.) Settled by prospectors who had come to (2245 mi.) on the right side of the train is where the California looking for gold, the town was originally a stagecoach famed Donner Party, traveling west from Illinois, was stranded during station but soon became a stop on the transcontinental railroad. In the winter of 1846-47. Some of the party of 87 resorted to cannibalism; the 1900s the Southern Pacific opened a major switchyard here which only 48 survived. After passing the lake, the California Zephyr passes turned Roseville into a rail town. Now part of the Union Pacific, we’ll through a series of snow sheds that protect the track from being pass those yards after we leave the station. Today the city features a blocked by the more than 30 feet of snow that falls in the typical diverse array of businesses, including one of the largest auto malls in winter. the U.S. Like many California cities it actively encourages transportation alternatives to the automobile and now offers residents over 100 miles Mt. Judah (2248 mi.) We enter a tunnel through Mt. Judah some 7,000 of bicycle routes to get around. feet above sea level, the peak point of our climb across the Sierras. When we emerge, a ski lift from the adjacent Sugar Bowl Ski Resort SACRAMENTO (2353 mi.) was first settled in 1839. The city grew carries skiers over the track. The resort closed during World War II significantly during the California Gold Rush, and in 1854 became for fear the Germans might blow up the tunnel and block this key California’s capital. Sacramento was the western terminus for the Pony transcontinental rail route. Express, and was the starting point for eastbound construction to meet the westbound track of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory Norden (2252 mi.) was once the site of a Southern Pacific turntable and Summit, Utah, in 1869. Sacramento State University is located here. maintenance point. It is marked by another snow shed. The city is home to the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Soda Springs (2255 mi.) As we reach Lake Van Norden on the left, Association, and the Sacramento River Cats, a farm club of the watch for Castle Peak on the right, a mountain with a rock formation American League’s Oakland Athletics and one of the most successful minor league baseball franchises. that looks like a castle on top. After Lake Van Norden is the Soda Springs Ski Resort on the left. About 12 miles west of here is where

California Zephyr Route Guide 8 Sacramento is at the confluence of the American River that we cross EMERYVILLE (2438 mi.) is a small city of less than one square prior to arrival, and the Sacramento River that we cross after departing. mile located just north of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and We pass “Old Town” and the California State Railroad Museum on the the end of the rail trip across the west. Major redevelopment in the left after departing. 1980s and 1990s transformed this former industrial city into a mixed use urban center with retail, entertainment and business centers, as The station stop in Sacramento also serves the routes of the Amtrak well as condominiums, parks and recreation trails. It’s home to Pixar® Capitol Corridor and ®. Animation Studios and several biotech and software companies. DAVIS (2367 mi.) The long, low trestle we cross marks the “Yolo At Emeryville, passengers en route to San Francisco will board Amtrak Bypass”, a flood plain meant to divert flood waters away from Thruway buses that operate to several stops in San Francisco. The bus Sacramento. The 1913 adobe-style Davis station is an historic crosses the San Francisco bay on the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge landmark. This city is home to UC Davis, the largest in the which spans 8.4 miles some 200 feet above the water. Opened in 1936, University of California system that in 2012 was ranked as the it carries approximately 280,000 vehicles per day. Watch for spectacular “greenest” college campus in the U.S. by the Sierra Club magazine. views of San Francisco, Alcatraz Island and the Bridge. Rather than cars, 20,000 bicycles are the primary transportation mode Connecting the two halves of the bridge is the 539-ft. long Yerba Buena to, from and around campus. Indeed the motto of the City of Davis is Tunnel, the largest diameter tunnel in the world in 1936. The bridge “Most Bicycle-Friendly Town in the World.” underwent major repairs and retrofitting after it was damaged in the Suisun Bay (2408 mi.) (Pronounced “soo-soon”) The “Mothball Fleet,” Loma Prieta (World Series) Earthquake in 1989. consisting of World War II ships that have been stored for years, can be SAN FRANCISCO (2447 mi.) Almost everybody who visits San seen off to the left as our train crosses the Bridge. The Francisco, the City by the Bay, is captured by its charms. The city grew large peak to the left is Mount Diablo (3,849 feet). 25-fold in 1849 after the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill the year MARTINEZ (2411 mi.) From a trading post in 1849 to a flourishing before, and has just kept growing and becoming more attractive. Today, town in 1876, Martinez became a hub for the gold and shipping this popular international tourist destination is renowned for its steep industries. Although there are many competing claims, the town likes to hills, famous landmarks, Alcatraz Island, Coit Tower, cable cars and claim the invention of the martini; a plaque commemorating the event Chinatown as well as for its diverse cosmopolitan population lending is on a downtown corner. The most prominent Martinez native was Joe unmatched charm and character to the city. While early entrepreneurs DiMaggio, a local legend with the Pacific Coast League capitalized on gold wealth to benefit banking, railroads and trade, the San Francisco Seals before going on to baseball stardom with the New modern era saw the rise of the “Beat” and “Hippie” generations that York YankeesTM. (Younger readers of this route guide may recognize him crystallized the progressive political nature of the population unlike better as pitchman for “Mr. Coffee®.”) Martinez is the transfer point to elsewhere in the U.S. Its world famous galleries, restaurants and shops the Amtrak San Joaquin®. share top billing with Fisherman’s Wharf and the financial district to lure vacation travelers from all over the globe. In the city where Tony The train skirts the shore of and then the San Francisco Bennett left his heart, small businesses with fewer than ten employees Bay as we cover the final miles of our journey. The Bay Area Rapid make up 85 percent of city establishments. And in a city where the Transit (BART) trains can be seen on the left as we approach the next 49ers won five consecutive Super Bowls, its residents have been judged to last station, RICHMOND (2430 mi.). Passing through Berkeley the fittest in the U.S. (2436 mi.), the San Francisco skyline and Golden Gate Bridge can be seen to the right across the bay. Thanks for traveling here on the Zephyr.

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